Teruko Inoue was born Teruko Konishi in 1910 in Yokohama, Japan to an important import/export businessman and his wife. Her mother died when she was only two years old. She grew up in Yokohama and went to college, where among other studies she learned the traditional art of Japanese kimono sewing.

At 20 years old, she married her husband, Shigeyo Inoue who was also in the import/export business and they had two sons, including Haruo Konishi, who is well known in Fredericton and was for many years Professor of Classics at the University of New Brunswick.  Teruko’s husband died in 1968. In 1973 she came to visit her son in Fredericton, the first of many month-long sojourns. She was a very social person and although her English was poor, she was keen to meet people and talk. Haruo introduced her to iconic Frederictonians Nan and Ellen Gregg. Both ladies were avid quilters and Ellen, the born teacher, was very pleased to introduce Teruko to the North American tradition of quilting, which at the time was unheard of in Japan. She was an avid learner. Her interest was in the design and piecing of the top layer of the quilt. Members of the Women’s Institute of Williamsburg, N.B. under the direction of Mrs. Pearl Boyce (daughter-in-law of W.W. Boyce) quilted the majority of the quilts at that time.  In 1978, twenty-five of Teruko’s quilts were exhibited at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and the exhibition toured a number of public galleries in  Atlantic Canada. After which, the quilts returned to Japan.

Teruko became one of the pioneers of quilting in Japan. She published a number of “how-to” quilt books and had many exhibitions, mostly in major department stores. Seemingly strange venues for exhibitions to North Americans, these stores served at the time as art galleries, in conjunction with the promotion of their wares, in this case quilting books, fabric and other necessary materials. Teruko also made a number of television appearances and became a quilting celebrity. She enjoyed this status tremendously.

Her final exhibition was at the Nakamura Art Gallery in Tokyo. Teruko suffered a stroke on the last day of the exhibition and died 8 months later in 1995.

During the period of 1973 to 1995, Teruko created approximately 50 quilts. Eleven remain in Japan in the collections of friends and relatives. The collection of quilts at Gallery 78 includes work featured in various exhibitions and is the first time that Teruko’s quilts have been for sale.